Looking at the trends of B&C and P&Y deer by state certainly shows a very steep decline for Illinois. Given increased tag numbers, lower success rates and decreasing kill numbers I think its very reasonable to believe the deer herd in IL is in decline.

buckbull.

Don’t let the B&C and P&Y numbers fool you. The decline in whats turned into the record books has more to do with hunters not wanting to or can’t because of book rules instead of a decline in large bucks. Obviously how EHD really attacked mature bucks had an impact, but thats only part of the decline in book entries.

I have a different reason for not seeing deer on the ground I hunt. I’ll call it the “Duck Dynasty crowd”. I have never seen anything like it. People are picking up a bow and overcrowding the small wood lots in my area. I cant could all thr tree stands per square mile. They don’t understand property lines, wind direction and that you can’t park your truck under your deer stand. I was on a fence row hunting when I realized I had one guy a hundred yards to west taking a 90 yard shot on a doe and Bill Jordan (nickname for the idiot) was rattling with a plastic set of antlers every 15 minutes. Long story short the woods are empty. Deer are on prairie. Cant wait til I can throw slug. I have never said that before.

I can’t believe you’re just now noticing the new crowd! They’ve been showing up since the antler porn industry started showing them how easy it is!! I hunt public land and its full of them. It’s aggravating to deal with but pretty good entertainment too.

Andy, Its funny u mention the public land people, I hunted yesterday and watched a guy using a drag-rag around his tree for 35min. After he got into the tree he lit up a cig and poured a cup of coffee from his thermos…..He then pulled a book from his backpack and started reading…...It was freakin funny as heck…...

That’s a typical day on public ground. Atleast you didn’t get ran out by a pack of beagles and 3 tards in blaze orange and assless chaps an hour after you sat down! That was my only morning off! Gotta laugh though. Just part of it